A Beginners Guide & FAQs For Fansly

Fansly has quickly become one of the most popular alternatives to OnlyFans, especially for creators who want a subscription platform built with adult content in mind. With features like tiered memberships, paywalled posts, and audience discovery tools, it’s a strong option for beginners — but like any platform, it can feel overwhelming when you’re first getting started.

Many creators also build multiple income streams at the same time, combining subscription content with other niches like selling used underwear so they’re not relying on one platform alone.

In this beginner-friendly guide, we’ll walk you through how Fansly works, how to set up your account, and the most common FAQs creators have about getting paid, growing a fanbase, and staying consistent. We’ll also show how Fansly fits into the bigger world of selling adult content online and building sustainable creator income.

What is Fansly?

Fansly is an American-owned website operated by Select Media LLC and is believed to have been established in February 2020. They really aren’t that old, and were relatively unknown until this past year. 

Fansly operates really similarly to OnlyFans, where, as a creator, you can have either a free or paid subscription to host content to share with your fans. As a fan, you can subscribe to free or paid accounts of performers you love. As I said in our many OnlyFans guides here on Sofia Gray, these platforms are like a Netflix subscription for individual creators. 

Let’s address the elephant in the room...these websites look really similar.
Signing on to Fansly, I was really shocked (and a bit happy) to find a really similar-looking layout to OnlyFans. Not copied verbatim, but from just a visual point of view, Fansly looks almost identical to OnlyFans from both the Creator and fan views. Why? Because it’s just a good design. No one has been critizing OnlyFans’s user-friendly look - and why fix something that isn’t broken? 

Fansly also takes the same cut as OnlyFans. 
Another thing the two sites have in common is how much of a commission they take. On Fansly, they take 20% of anything you make on the platform as a creator. This is a relatively good rate (as some camming websites take 30% or even 40% of what you make). One thing to note here is that the payout option for OnlyFans is anything above $20, whereas the payout option for Fansly rests currently at $100, meaning you need to make at least $100 before you can withdraw anything.

They also have a geo-blocking system, which is a must on these platforms at this point. 
Camming websites like Chaturbate may have figured out these geo-blocking or region-blocking systems first, but now it’s an essential when you’re a platform who deals with NSFW content creation. Geo-blocking or region blocking is exactly what it sounds like - the ability to block off certain areas of the world from accessing your profile, which can help you stay safe and anonymous online.

That may be where the similarities end, though. 
Fansly has “one-upped” OnlyFans in several other areas, which is why people have been leaving in droves to switch from OnlyFans to Fansly. In fact, Fansly claims their creatorbase has expanded exponentially since the OnlyFans controversy - at one point, they recieved four thousand new sign ups in one hour. 

What else does Fansly offer? 

While OnlyFans has done some of the leg-work over the years in terms of simply allowing NSFW content and being a space where creators can perform at a time where every other platform was outright banning them, Fansly is coming to the table with some new offerings, and I’ve got to say - it looks pretty tempting! 

A tier-based following system. 
This is pretty interesting, it’s like Patreon meets OnlyFans. You don’t need to have a “free account” and a “paid account” as you do on OnlyFans - but instead, followers can choose at which “tier” they want to subscribe to you and that tier then unlocks the content they are allowed to see. Creators can even use emojis to censor specific parts of photos and have free members see the emoji and paid members not. Cool, right?

For their main paid tier, Mel Magazine reports that most creators charge between $5.00 - $15.00 per month, similarly to OnlyFans. Many creators only offer the one tier, but for other full-time creators who want to make more out of their profile, higher tiers for popular performers can be as much as $100.00 - $200.00 per month and those special fans would get live chats, live sexting/cam sessions, longer (15+ minute videos), etc.

A chance for both fans and creators to get a little something extra. 
OnlyFans has a nice referral system for creators - if another creator signs up with your code or link, you get something. Fansly has this, but better - they offer the referral program to fans, as well. Refer a fan to someone you’re subscribed to and have them use your code, and get a discount on your next month! 

A way for creators to be discovered. 
This is a big one. Fansly, unlike OnlyFans, actually offers a discover feature. Similar to camming sites like Chaturbate, potential fans can scroll around and see different profiles in their explore pages, which does a lot for creators who want to grow their audiences. OnlyFans really doesn’t have any feature like this, and when you think about it, that’s a giant plus on Fansly’s side.

An acknowledgement from the platform of the “bigger issue” around NSFW content creation online. 
Not only is this platform trying to build up sex workers and being transparent about that, they are also shining a light on the problem of sex workers being shuttled and shunned all over the web. This cheeky tweet from Fansly throws some subtle shade at companies who are built by sex workers not being sex worker friendly. Hmm...who could they be talking about there? 

A clear understanding of what is and isn’t allowed on the platform. 
Reading Fansly’s terms of service compared to reading OnlyFan’s terms of service can tell you a lot about what you need to know about the differences between these platforms. Fansly goes into a lot more detail on kink and fetish content being accepted and where the lines are drawn - and OnlyFans has been quite vague (even in their “we’re banning porn” statements) as to what is actually considered NSFW. You can read OnlyFan’s current terms of service here, and you can read Fansly’s current terms of service here.

The Downsides of Fansly…

Is this platform perfect? No. No platform is. We’re not over here having a “let’s shame OnlyFans and pretend this platform is better in every way” party. NSFW content creators will always need to be careful about where they invest their content, their time, and where they send their fans. It’s important to discuss some of the potential downsides of every platform. 

They only allow fans to pay with credit card. 
While this one of the similarities they share with OnlyFans, it may not be a good thing. Without additional payment options, Fansly might be susceptible to the same things Pornhub and OnlyFans have been - large card companies and banks not wanting to support pornographic content in any way, shape, or form. Fansly’s support team has stated they are working on implementing a crypto-payment system for both subscribers and creators, so it will be interesting to see if this works. 

There isn’t a ton of info about them online. 
This could be because they are a relatively new platform and were kind of living in the shadow of OnlyFans and other platforms like AVNStars, but still...it’s a little worrisome. Hopefully they have a PR team that can spend some time getting more information out there about themselves to build trust.

They just aren’t as massive as OnlyFans (yet). 
You can’t deny the reach of OnlyFans...everyone knows who they are, and they have a lot of reach. Even if the company itself isn’t being too keen for sex workers, there is some weight behind their name and saying you have an OnlyFans account vs saying you have a Fansly account may mean the different in subscribers. 

What Fansly Is Doing Right...

The biggest plus for Fansly is that they are ~openly~ promoting sex work. OnlyFans has done this dance for years, where they know sex workers and adult performers make up a large chunk of their creator-base, but they never really talk about it or acknowledge it. The only creators they promote on their official pages are SFW creators and they give skirt-around statements when it comes to being NSFW content-friendly. 

However, for now, at least, Fansly appears to be doing the opposite. This tweet from the official Fansly account on August 19 (the day of the OnlyFans controversy), claims that they are a platform that is both sex worker and safe-for-work content friendly. 

No platform is perfect, but it will be really interesting to see what Fansly does to avoid making the same mistakes as OnlyFans. 

How to Sign Up For Fansly As A Creator

How do I sign up for Fansly? Whether you’re looking to switch completely from OnlyFans to Fansly or you’re simply wanting to diversify where you upload your content and where you grow as a creator, Fansly is a good option to consider and I’ve got the info you need to sign up. 

If you are interested in signing up for Fansly, check out the instructions below to get started! 

1. Create an account here. You need to create an account before you can register as a creator.
2. Then, you can visit their “creator application form” and register as a creator. 
3. Next, you will need to verify your identity. This is where you fill in your information (legal name, address, etc). 
4. Then, you will need to verify that information by uploading a photo of your ID (national ID card, passport, etc).
5. You will also need to upload a clear selfie holding the ID as well as a handwritten note with the date, your name, and the word “Fansly” on it.
6. Next, you have to check if you’re going to be posting explicit content so Fansly knows where to show you on the discover page. They give you the options of “yes”, “no”, or “maybe”
7. You now need to wait for approval from the platform. You should be able to become verified on Fansly within 24-48 hours. 
8. Once you’re verified, you can fill in things like your payment information, profile and cover images, biography, etc. 
9. Then, you can set your tier subscription rates and start collecting fans!